


Mimik: Adapting

by Pan_Princess



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adoptive Dad Tony Stark, Adoptive Dad!Tony, Dad!Tony, F/F, F/M, OC, Original Character(s), Original Female Character - Freeform, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, dad tony stark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-09-18 16:57:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 17,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16998933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pan_Princess/pseuds/Pan_Princess
Summary: When Natalia was born, her parents sold her to an organization that specialized in "bringing out the best in human beings." Shortly after she turns fifteen, she obtains superpowers and manages to escape the hell that she'd been raised in. After she's rescued by a certain masked vigilante, she starts to believe that the most difficult part of her life is going to be living in modern society.(I super suck at writing descriptions, it's better than I've summarized)





	1. Chapter 1

Pain.

From the second Natalia Porcher was born, she only felt pain. She only ever remembered pain. 

When she was born, she was sold to an organization that specialized in “bringing out the best in human beings.” All her life she was experimented on and tortured, feeling as though she was going to die more times than she could count. As she passed her fifteenth birthday, she thought she was going to die at the hands of her captors, never to experience normal teenage life and confined to a building with other kids who shared the same reality. But then, as she was being electrocuted for the fourth time that day, she felt as though something in her snapped and a second later, she was out of the chair she’d been sitting in and the man that had been torturing her was slumped against the wall.

Natalia gazed down at her glowing, red hands, slightly shocked by what had just happened. Her moment of shock was over quickly as another one of her captors attempted to apprehend her. She retaliated by using her newfound powers to pick the man up by his neck and throw him backwards into the hallway. Natalia ran out of the room and into the hall, quickly rounding the corner and flying down the stairs to the foyer. As she approached the front door, she was surrounded by the remaining “scientists” left in the building, some of them wielding guns or knives and others wielding cattle prods. Natalia breathed heavily, not knowing what to do and beginning to panic when a woman behind her jabbed her in the back with a cattle prod, causing Natalia to cry out in pain. The unexpected attack caused the young girl to use her powers, knock all of the “scientists” away from her, and set the horrible building on fire. She panicked again and ran out of the building and into the streets of New York, simply running as fast as she could in an attempt to get as far away from the building as possible.

Eventually, she grew tired and found an abandoned apartment building to take shelter in, choosing a studio apartment on the fourth floor of the building. With nothing but a pair of old jeans, a t-shirt, and a pair of ragged shoes, Natalia was able to eventually fall asleep in the corner of the room, facing the front door. 

Natalia spent months in that abandoned building, only venturing out at night to go through dumpsters in an effort to find food and, lately, snatching purses. She desperately needed new clothes and since she was petrified of people, she didn’t want to attempt to ask anyone for help. Unfortunately for her, a certain superhero had been patrolling the area she was in and was about to turn in for the night when he saw her steal a woman’s purse. Natalia ducked into an alley and knelt on the ground, dumping the purse out to see how much money she’d obtained.

“You know stealing is wrong, right?”

At the sound of a boy’s voice, Natalia jumped and slammed her back against the cold brick of the building she was next to. There, hanging upside down in front of her, was Spider-Man himself.

“Y-Yeah.”

“... So you know I’ve gotta turn you in to police now.”

“You can’t!”

“Why?”

The girl paused, frowning and taking a deep breath before she spoke, “I don’t- I don’t have a home or anyone.”

The eyes on Spider-Man's mask shrunk before going wide again, “You’re one of the escaped kids from that building, aren’t you? It was all over the news the other day.”

Natalia’s eyebrows scrunched together, her frown deepened, and her breathing increased. Before she could completely break down and begin to cry, Spider-Man dropped to the ground and stood in front of her.

“Woah woah, hey, it’s okay, it’s okay. I’m gonna help you, okay? That’s what I do. I can take you to someone who’ll be able to help you.” He extended his hand to her and for the first time, Natalia realized that she was feeling a rush of power, a strength that she’d never felt before. Not wanting him to know, she steadied her breathing and took his hand. He pulled her close, holding her by her waist, then shot a web at the top of a nearby building and the two were, almost instantly, sitting on the roof. Spider-Man had his phone out and dialed a number a couple of times, grumbling when no one picked up and simply dialing the number again, until the person he was trying to call finally answered.

“Hey, Happy! So, remember that news story about those kids being tortured?”

* * *

 

An hour and a few more slightly uncomfortable web rides later, the two stood in front of the Avengers tower in front of an older man.

“This is the girl you told me about?” the man asked, looking Natalia up and down.

“Yeah, found her stealing purses. You’ll make sure she’s okay, right?” 

“Of course P- er, Spidey. I told Stark about her, he wants to meet her tomorrow morning,” the man, Happy, smiled at the masked hero then at the girl standing next to him. “You’re safe now, I’ve got a room and clothes set up for you.”

Natalia glanced at Spider-Man, obviously still terrified, and he nodded, signaling for her to go with Happy. She walked towards him slowly and timidly, keeping her eyes trained on her shoes as she walked. 

“Alright, I’ll show you to your room. Spidey, I’ll call you in a couple of days to let you know how she’s doing, okay?” The boy nodded and took off back towards the hub of the city, leaving Natalia and Happy as the two ventured inside the building. As Natalia stepped through the door, she felt the same rush of power that allowed her to break out of that building days ago. She relaxed her shoulders, not wanting Happy to pick up on her newfound ability to replicate the powers of another person. She followed him to the second floor and then to the fourth door on the left which she was then let in to. 

“This is your little space for the night, there are pajamas, shirts, and jeans in the dresser over there. Your bathroom is that door over there, if you need anything I’ll be in the room across the hall.” Happy indicated each item he spoke of before turning to leave the room and bidding the girl good night.The door clicked shut behind him and Natalia locked the door so she could feel safe. She took about an hour to shower and wash her black, curly hair, noting how pale her brown skin looked, likely due to the lack of sun. After washing up, she donned a soft shirt and pajama pants and decided to try to sleep, even though she knew that she wouldn’t be able to.

In fact, she wasn’t sure if she’d ever be able to sleep again.


	2. Chapter 2

After a restless night and only a few hours of sleep, Natalia decided to get up and get dressed. She looked through the dresser opposite her bed, which was filled with, what she guessed, most girls her age were wearing then. She decided on light colored jeans, a royal blue and white baseball shirt, and royal blue converse she found near the door of her room. She took time to comb out her hair, silently wishing she had the ability to get it braided or styled like other girls instead of leaving her hair in a curly, afro-esque style like it had always been. Natalia then unlocked the door and headed out of her room, deciding to go down the portion of the hallway that she’d never been to before. At the end of the hallway, she found a sizeable kitchen with a red haired woman sitting at a table.

“Hello, who’re you?” she asked, taking a slow sip from her mug after speaking. When Natalia didn’t respond and simply stared at her, she stopped drinking and set her mug down. “Not much of a talker, huh? Well, I’m Wanda, it’s nice to meet you.” 

“I’m Natalia.”

“Have a last name?”

“Porcher.”

“Well Ms. Natalia, would you like some help making breakfast? I don’t know if you’ve ever learned how to cook.” After a few moments, Natalia nodded and Wanda smiled and stood from her chair, heading towards the fridge. “What’re you in the mood for? Bacon and eggs? Cereal? Toast?”

“Anything,” Natalia responded and Wanda turned to look at her.

“When was the last time you’ve eaten?” the woman asked and Natalia shrugged. Wanda frowned and pulled a carton of eggs and a package of bacon from the fridge then went about showing Natalia how to scramble and cook eggs and bacon. Once they’d finished cooking, Wanda set Natalia down and poured her a glass of orange juice to go with her meal then sat across from the girl as she began to eat. After a long moment of silence, she spoke again.

“So, do you have any powers?”

Natalia stopped chewing then swallowed after pausing. “What do you mean?”

“Some people are special and can to extraordinary things. Like this,” she held out her hand and a red, mist-like aura surrounded it. “Can you do anything like that?”

In perhaps a lapse of judgement, Natalia believed that the person who gave her the opportunity to break out of the hell she’d been trapped in had the right to know that she could replicate the powers of other people. But just as she was about to set down her fork and show Wanda what she could do, Happy walked in followed by a rather short man.

“Ah, there she is. Knew she couldn’t have gotten far,” Happy gestured towards the girl and she tensed.

“Morning Happy, Tony. Natalia was a bit hungry so I showed her how to cook a little,” Wanda smiled and took a sip from her mug. 

“Well good morning Natalia. I’m glad I get to finally meet the girl that I’ve gotten so many calls about,” the short man stepped forward and stood next to the table, extending his hand towards the young girl. “I’m Tony Stark, Iron Man and leader of the Avengers.”

Natalia stared at his hand then looked up and stared at Tony, not making a move to shake his hand. Tony shrugged and put his hand down, clasping his hands together in front of him.

“We’ll work on your attitude. So, I think you’re a fairly interesting girl and I’d like to let you live here.”

“What? Why?”

“Tony, I don’t think she has any powers,” Wanda spoke up and Tony waved her off.

“She doesn’t need to. I’m intrigued by this young woman who was able to get away after being held captive for all fifteen years of her life and attempt to survive on her own.” Natalia was at a loss for words, and incredibly skeptical of the older man. If she didn’t have any powers, then what was the use in letting her live in the building? “I’ll enroll you in school and claim you as your legal guardian and you’ll have whatever you need.”

“But, why?” Natalia asked again and Tony shrugged.

“It’s definitely better than living in some foster home where they probably won’t understand you or anything you’ve gone through. We’ll give you the space you need to grow and you can talk to any of us if you have any issues.”

Natalia thought for a moment, her gaze moving down to the floor before looking back up at Tony. “Okay. I’ll stay here.”

“Wonderful. I’ll get started on finding you a high school and I’m thinking a tutor as well. Have you ever been to school?” When Natalia shook her head Tony nodded and continued, “A tutor and a high school, okay. Before I leave, is there anything else you want or need?”

Natalia thought for a second and chewed on her lip. “Could I get my hair done? I want to blend in a little bit.”

“Of course, Happy, use the card I gave you and take her out to get her hair done today,” Tony turned to Happy and spoke to him then faced Natalia again and spoke to her again. “I’ll be back around dinner with an update on school. Enjoy yourself today, okay? Get whatever you’d like.”

Tony left after that, with Happy following him down the hall so he could talk to him before he got to the elevator and Natalia finished her plate of bacon and eggs and her glass of orange juice.

“So Natalia, would you like to leave now?” Happy asked as he entered the room.

“Actually, Happy, would you mind if I took her? I’d like to get to know her a little bit better,” Wanda asked and Happy nodded, reaching into his pocket to retrieve his wallet.

“Take the card and get her whatever she wants. The pin is 9836,” Happy said as he handed Wanda a black credit card. The woman nodded and looked at Natalia with a smile on her face. 

“What do you say we get your hair done and have a good time today? Like a girls’ day, it’ll be fun.”

Something about the woman was incredibly friendly and homey to Natalia and she found herself smiling back at the red head and nodding. The two stood up from the table and left, saying goodbye to Happy as they headed towards the elevator to get to the garage. Wanda let Natalia pick out the car they took, a white Tesla, and after about thirty minutes, they arrived at a hair salon. 

* * *

 

The girls returned home later that night, Natalia having gotten her hair permed so that it was now straight and cut into a bob that suited her adorably high cheekbones. The two carried multiple bags from makeup and clothing stores, Wanda hoping that some of the things they picked out would allow her to feel calm and like she belonged when she began school. After setting down the bags in Natalia’s room and Wanda promising to show her how to do her makeup after dinner, the two headed to the kitchen where Tony and Happy were sitting and talking.

“Your hair looks wonderful, Natalia. You have fun today?” Tony asked, glancing up at the girls. Natalia nodded and smiled slightly. “I’m glad you did. My search for a high school was a success, you’re starting at Midtown High tomorrow morning, school starts at nine so try to get to bed early tonight.” Natalia frowned and chewed on the inside of her cheek.

“What’s wrong? Not thrilled about school?” Tony asked and Happy chuckled.

“No kids are excited about school, Tony.”

“It’s not- I’ve never been to school before anyways. I’m going to be very obviously behind everyone else. What if- what if I don’t fit in?” Natalia spoke quickly, keeping her eyes trained on her shoes.

“Well it’s high school, no one fits in, first of all. Second of all, I already called in a favor with an intern of mine, he goes there already so I asked him to help you out and be your first friend there.” Tony paused for a bit before speaking again. “If you’re not ready to start school just yet, I understand.”

Natalia hummed quietly for a second before shaking her head. “No, I might as well try. I have to at some point.”

Tony smiled and nodded, “Okay then. Happy will drive the two of you to school tomorrow so be sure to wake up early so there’s enough time to pick up Peter as well. Oh, and there’s pizza on the counter if you two are hungry.”

Natalia nodded and smiled a little at Tony who grinned in response, obviously proud of the progress she was making. As Natalia grabbed a slice of what she thought to be the best thing she’d ever eaten, she couldn’t help but worry about going to school. She’d never been before and if there was anything she learned from sneaking and watching old movies, she was fairly certain that high school was going to be the most difficult part of her life.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, at around 6:30, Natalia was startled out of sleep by a horribly loud beeping noise which she then found to be a phone that someone had left on her bedside table. She turned off the alarm and laid in bed, simply staring at the ceiling for a couple of minutes, before deciding to haul herself out of bed and take a shower. She decided to wear blue jeans, a yellow top, and matching yellow shoes, following Wanda’s advice on how to compliment her brown skin. After her shower and deciding to leave her hair down, she got dressed and replicated the makeup job that Wanda had done on her the night prior, using various tones of brown eyeshadow, black eyeliner, black mascara, and dusting her cheeks with blush. When she was done, she quietly exited her room and headed towards the kitchen to eat breakfast before departing. After pouring herself a bowl of cereal, she sat down at the table and then noticed that there was a royal blue backpack sitting on the table. Curiosity beginning to get the better of her, she quickly finished her cereal and left her empty bowl in the sink then began to investigate the bag. On top of it was a note that read:

_Do well today_

_-Tony_

When she opened the bag, she found a new laptop, a couple of notebooks, a pack of black pens, and a couple of mechanical pencils. As she was inspecting her new things, Happy came into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee, yawning as he did so.

“Ready to head out?” Natalia nodded and slung the bag over her shoulder, following Happy out of the kitchen and towards the elevator. The two went down to the garage and got into a town car and Natalie spent the ride figuring out how to use her new phone and finding that she already had Happy, Tony, and Wanda’s numbers in her contacts. She downloaded a couple of games and as she began to play one, Happy pulled over in front of a rather tall apartment building. A couple of minutes later, a brown-haired boy exited the building and got into the car, sitting in the backseat with Natalia.

“Hey, sorry, you weren’t waiting long, right?” he asked and Happy shook his head as he pulled off.

“Nope, just got here a little bit before you came out.”

“Cool. Oh, hey you must be Natalia, I’m Peter, Peter Parker,” Peter extended his hand towards her after buckling his seat belt and Natalia shook his hand. She gave a quiet “hi” and let his hand go, turning her attention towards the window and opting to stare at the passing city.

“So, first day at a new school, you must be nervous,” Peter spoke and Natalia shrugged, not bothering to face him or respond vocally. “Well, it won’t be too bad. Everyone’s pretty nice, except for Flash and Michelle, sometimes. You’ll love my friend Ned though, he’s a really nice guy.” Natalia nodded, still looking out the window and Peter gave up on speaking to her, instead choosing to text Ned and play on his phone for the remainder of the ride. When they got to school, the two kids thanked Happy and got out of the car then ventured towards the front door of the building.

“Do you hate me or something?” Peter blurted and Natalia frowned and looked at him.

“No, I barely know you. I’m just shy and I don’t know how to interact with people.”

Peter sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, “Sorry, I should’ve remembered that.”

Natalia shrugged, “You can make it up to me by making sure I don’t seem like a complete outcast.” Peter nodded and the two entered the building, Natalia immediately feeling overwhelmed by the other kids who had perfect makeup and what she guessed were currently trending outfits. Her hand tightened on her backpack and she followed Peter closely as the two neared the principal’s office. When they entered, the principal greeted them and the two sat down in front of his desk.

“Your first day shouldn’t be too difficult, Mr. Stark enrolled you in mostly low-level classes so you can take time to get up to speed with other kids your age. Peter will show you around and answer any questions you have and your teachers will give you everything you need. If anything serious happens, my door is always open, okay?” Natalia nodded and thanked him then followed Peter out of the office and into the hallway. 

“Our lockers are over here, come on.”

The two continued in silence until they reached their lockers, both of them opening them and putting a few things in.

“Guess who just got a new lego Death Star.”

“No way! How many pieces?”

At the sound of someone’s voice, Natalia shut her locker and leaned her shoulder against it.

“Three thousand eight hundred and three.”

“That’s insane!”

“Yeah! Want to build it tonight?”

“I can’t, actually, I’ve got the Stark-”

“Stark internship. Yeah, I know.”

“Speaking of,” Peter began as he closed his locker. “Ned, this is Natalia. Mr. Stark took her in so I’m showing her around school.”

“Oh wow, cool, nice to meet you. Wanna help me build a Death Star?” Ned asked and Natalia scrunched her eyebrows together.

“A what?”

“Not much of a Star Wars fan?”

“Again, what?”

“Ah, Ned, she’s not really into pop culture. She doesn’t know much about that kind of stuff,” Peter cut in.

“Oh. Why?” Ned asked and as Peter was about to respond, the bell rang.

“Gotta get to class, can’t answer that,” Peter shrugged, waved to Natalia, and began to head off, Ned attempting to keep up and still trying to ask about Natalia. The girl took a deep breath and exhaled then began to head off to her first class of the day, Algebra 1. After speaking with the teacher and receiving her textbook, she took a seat in the back of the class, not wanting to be noticed by the other students. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like she’d go unnoticed.

“Good morning class, we’re going to start off on chapter four, page fifty-five, with problem six. Let’s see… Ms. Porcher, do you know the answer?” the teacher asked and Natalia quickly flipped to the page and thought for a moment.

“It’s, uh, x is equal to three,” she responded, somewhat surprised at how she knew the answer.

“That’s… correct. How about twenty-one?”

“Four radical three.”

“... Moving on.” 

For the remainder of the class, Natalia sat in silence, not believing how or why she knew how to get the answer and how she’d known to solve the problems. In fact, the rest of the day went the same. In all of her classes, she knew the correct answers, sometimes without even thinking about it. After school, Happy picked her up and the two made small talk, Natalia not wanting to tell him about the interesting day she’d had. When they arrived back at the tower, Natalia immediately went to her room and found a new desk and chair waiting for her. She sat and did her homework for a couple of hours until Wanda knocked on her door and called her to dinner.

“Well there she is, lady of the hour,” Tony greeted her as she entered the kitchen. “How was school? Anything interesting?” Natalia shook her head and took a plate of pasta from Wanda, sitting down at the table and beginning to eat. “Well, that’s interesting, because the school called me to let me know that you’ve been put into the wrong classes.”

Natalia paused then swallowed the pasta she had in her mouth, “What do you mean?”

“I mean you’re above the level we thought you’d be at. Any reason for that?” Tony asked, leaning forward on the table.

“I guess I’m smarter than I thought,” Natalia shrugged and continued eating. She knew that she must’ve possessed her advanced intelligence from a superhero she’d come in contact with, the only question was, who had she been near?

“Well, they’re having you come in tomorrow morning and take a test so they can better understand what classes you should be in. Do you like your new desk?”

“Mhm.”

“Phone?”

“Don’t really understand it but it seems cool.”

“Laptop?”

“Also don’t understand that but I’ll get used to it.”

Tony nodded, “Ask Peter, I’m sure he’ll help you out.”

Natalia nodded and finished her plate, leaving it in the sink and asking Tony if she could go back to her room. Tony agreed and Natalia bid them all goodnight, heading back to her room and thinking more about Peter. 

Obviously, he was Spider-Man. She knew from the second he got into the car that morning, the same rush of power she felt around Spider-Man had increased when Peter got close to her. Natalia absolutely adored the way she felt around him, it made her feel like nothing could ever harm her.

But then again, she’s been wrong before.


	4. Chapter 4

After taking the exam to better place her, Natalia was put into the same classes as Ned and Peter, the principal thought it would make her feel at ease. It did, a little, but every time she was near the two boys, the hair on her arm stood up and her senses heightened, which made her feel incredibly on edge. She kept pushing away the feeling, until she overheard their conversation as they sat on the bleachers during gym.

“Do you know him too?” Ned asked.

“Yeah, we met.” Peter paused. “I stole his shield.”

“What?”   
So Ned found out that Peter was Spider-Man, not that Natalia was an akward outcast, excellent. Natalia figured that that was the cause of her senses acting up and continued to ignore the feeling, continuing on with gym and having Michelle as her partner.

“Hey, I’m Michelle. You’re that new girl that’s always with Ned and Peter, right?”

“Oh, uh, yeah. Didn’t think anyone would notice.”

Michelle shrugged, “I’m observant.”

Michelle held Natalia’s ankles while she began doing sit ups, subconsciously going faster when she felt her senses heighten again. She slowed back down after the gym teacher commented on her good form and attempted to calm herself down. Until-

“Peter knows Spider-Man!”

Damn it Ned.

“No, I don’t.”

“Yeah, I mean- they’re- they’re friends.”

At this, Natalia stopped doing sit ups and sat up, leaning back on her right arm and turning to look at her idiotic aquaintances. 

“No, it’s- I mean, I’ve met him a few times through the Stark internship-”

“Peter, you’re not supposed to talk about it,” Natalia interupted and Peter agreed.

“Well, that’s awesome. Why don’t you invite him to Liz’s party tonight?” Flash asked, jumping down from a rope and walking over.

“You’re having a party?” Peter asked.

“Yeah, it’s just a couple of friends… I know you’re like too busy for parties anyways, so,” Liz started.

“Nonsense, Peter can make time and bring his pal Spider-Man along, right Peter?” Flash asked and Peter, somewhat reluctantly, agreed. The rest of the period went on in silence, Michelle and Natalia taking turns helping each other with different excersizes. At the end of the period, after changing back into their clothes, Michelle began talking with Natalia.

“Hey so, are you gonna go to Liz’s party?”

“Oh, um, I don’t really know her so I wasn’t planning on it.”

“She invited me, why don’t you tag along as my plus one?” At this, Natalia looked up at her and stood up, slinging her backpack over her shoulder.

“Really?” she paused. “Why?”

Michelle shrugged, “We’re both outcasts, I just figured you might like a friend.”

Natalia smiled and nodded and the two exchanged numbers then went about the rest of their school day. At the end of the day, Natalia stood at her locker, leaving the textbooks she didn’t need inside and running into Peter and Ned.

“Hey Natalia, going to Liz’s party tonight?” Ned asked as Peter opened and shuffled around in his locker.

“Yeah, actually. Michelle asked me to go with her,” she closed her locker. “And apparently, you’re asking Spider-Man to tag along to a high school party.” 

Peter slammed his locker shut. “I panicked! And Ned didn’t help by saying that I know him. I mean, I do but come on.”

“I’m sorry! I thought you wanted to get with Liz,” Ned whisper yelled and Peter shushed him, his face turning red.

“You like her?” Natalia asked, a small smirk on her face. “She’s cute.”

“You can barely pick up on social cues, how is this funny to you?” Peter snapped and Natalia scowled at him, turned around, and walked away quickly. She heard him yell after her but she ignored him and continued outside, found Happy’s car, and got in, slamming the door behind her.

“Bad day?” Happy asked as he pulled away from the curb.

“Yeah, I guess,” Natalia shrugged, crossing her arms and looking out the window. “Got invited to a party that’s tonight.”

“Really? That’s great! You’ll have to call Tony before you leave, he’s in India until tomorrow night,” Happy smiled at her through the rearview mirror and although she was still upset, Natalia smiled back. They spent the rest of the ride talking about how Natalia was adjusting and if she liked her classes, she did, what her favorite class was, Chemistry, and if she wanted to join any clubs, she hadn’t yet thought about it. When they arrived back at the tower, they both stepped into the elevator and as they were going up to their floor, Happy remembered something.

“We’re moving upstate soon.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, Tony sold the building so we’re all moving in a couple of weeks.”

Natalia paused as the elevator doors opened, following Happy after he walked out. “What does that mean for me? Do I have to move too? I have school now-” Natalia stopped abruptly, frowned and spoke quietly. “Am I being moved to a foster home?”

“What? No, definitely not. Tony just told Pepper about you and he already adores you,” Happy spoke, turning to face her. “I’m sure he’ll explain everything when you call him later.”

Natalia nodded, still unsure about what was going on, and went into her room, deciding to get her homework out of the way before the party. When she was nearly done with her homework, her phone buzzed.

_ Michelle: What u wearin 2 night? _

_ Natalie: Don’t know yet, you? _

_ Michelle has sent an image _

Natalie looked at the picture Michelle sent her of her outfit, noticing that Michelle was fairly cute. She decided to wear a black skirt, black haltertop, and, to complement Michelle’s outfit, tan heeled boots. She stepped into the bathroom and took a mirror selfie then sent it to Michelle. As Natalia waited for Michelle’s response, she decided to call Tony.

“Hey kiddo, Happy told me you’ve got a party tonight.”

“Yeah, I’m going with my friend Michelle.”

“Your  _ friend  _ huh? That’s great to hear!”

“Yeah…” Natalia paused, biting her lip. “So Happy told me that we’re moving.”

“Uh, yeah, yeah we are. I did want to talk to you about that but I think it’ll be better if we talk in person. Pepper and I want to take you out to dinner tomorrow night when I get back, wear something nice, I’ll tell happy to give you the card before school so you can go shopping after school with your friend.” At this Natalia sighed, and as she was about to speak Tony cut her off. “Oh hey, I gotta go, sorry. I’ll see you tomorrow night, okay? Have fun at your party!”

Tony hung up and Natalia sighed again then checked her phone for new texts from Michelle.

_ Michelle: Lookin good _

_ Michelle: Want 2 come over to my place or just meet @ the party? _

_ Natalia: I’ll meet you at your place. Address? _

_ Michelle has shared location _

Natalia walked out of her room, knocked on Happy’s door, and Happy opened the door a second later.

“You look cute. Ready to go?”

“Uh, yeah, but… Won’t it be weird if I pick my friend up with a driver?” 

Happy sighed and nodded then took Natalia’s phone from her.   
“I’m downloading Lyft and adding the card so you can get around. Just text me every once in a while, okay?” Natalia nodded and took her phone back from Happy, giving him a hug before ordering her car and making her way downstairs. It took about a half an hour to get to Michelle’s and as soon as Natalie texted her to come down, Michelle stepped out of her building and got into the car.

“Hey, you look good,” Michelle complimented, leaning in and snapping a selfie with her.

“Well, I did have to match you,” Natalia smiled.

“So, I have to ask, what’s up with you and Peter?”

“We’re barely friends, what makes you ask?”

“You’ve been with him since the first day you got here, you’re always with him in the hallways, and you always eat lunch with him and Ned.”

Natalia let out a nervous laugh, “You got me, I have a crush on Peter.”

Michelle frowned and looked at her friend. “No you don’t.”

Natalia sighed, “No, I don’t.” Michelle frowned, eyebrows creasing as she stared at Natalia. The car came to a stop and the two exited the car, Natalia stopping Michelle as they began to head up the walkway of Liz’s house. 

“You can’t tell  _ anyone  _ about what I’m going to tell you, okay?”

Michelle scoffed, “Who am I gonna tell?”

Natalia took a breath before starting, “I was one of the kids that was tortured in that abandoned office building. I escaped before the police arrived and rescued the rest of them and I lived in an abandoned apartment building for months before Spider-Man caught me stealing purses so I could buy food and clothes. He brought me to the Avengers Tower and Tony Stark took me in but I don’t understand why he did that.”

“That’s why you don’t get pop culture references,” Michelle nodded, processing what Natalia had told her.

“Yeah, but you really can’t tell anyone. I just don’t really want anyone to know, okay?” 

“Of course. Now come on, I’ll show you how to party,” Michelle laced their fingers together and the two went into the party. After a short while, Natalia was finally able to let loose and started to have fun, even dancing with Michelle. The two stopped and decided to get a drink, well Natalia wanted a drink, Michelle opted for toast.

“Can’t believe you guys are at this lame party,” Michelle spoke and Natalia turned her attention to who she was speaking to.

Oh.

Peter and Ned.

_ Fantastic. _

“But you’re here too,” Ned commented.

“Am I?” Michelle asked as she grabbed her toast from the toaster and walked away. Natalia turned and was about to follow her when Peter stepped in front of her, not allowing her to walk away.

“Natalia, I’m really sorry about what I said earlier. I shouldn’t have it, you’re doing really really well.”

“And I’m picking up on social cues,” Natalia mumbled, looking at the ground.

“Yes! You absolutely are. I’m really  _  really  _ sorry.”

Natalia pressed her lips together and looked up at Peter. “Okay, I forgive you.”

Peter grinned and hugged her. “You should hang out with Ned and I this weekend. We could get you caught up on pop culture. That is, if you don’t mind me telling Ned about what happened to you.”

Natalia shook her head, “Go ahead, I told Michelle before the party. She’s scary observant.”

Peter nodded and agreed. Natalia was about to speak again when Michelle called her so she waved goodbye to Peter and headed over to her friend. Michelle and Natalia spent the rest of the night dancing and enjoying themselves, even though Natalia had an overwhelming feeling that something bad was about to happen.

Then again, she’d been feeling that way since she obtained Peter’s powers. 


	5. Chapter 5

Natalia’s first Friday in high school was mostly uneventful, save for Michelle bringing her an iced coffee before their first class. At the end of the day, the two girls met up again and set out to shop for an outfit for Natalia to wear to dinner with Tony and Pepper that night. Before they began shopping, Michelle suggested that they get boba tea at one of her favorite restaurants. Safe to say, it was definitely Natalia’s new favorite drink. The girls continued down the street, walking and talking, until Natalia saw one of the most beautiful dresses that she’d ever seen.

“Michelle. I think I found the dress that I- what was the joke you made earlier? The dress I’m going to  _ die  _ in,” Natalia said, eyes glued to the dress. It was a knee length, sleeveless, royal blue dress with a royal blue sash and mesh going from the cleavage up to the neck.

“Then you should go try it on, huh?” Michelle asked, pushing Natalia towards the door of the store. The two went in and were greeted by a saleswoman who immediately helped Natalia into a dressing room and had her try on three different sizes of the dress she saw. When she finally tried on the right size, she stepped out of the dressing room and posed for an awestruck Michelle who, wordlessly, held up her phone and snapped a couple of pictures of her. Natalia changed back into her clothes and paid for the dress and the two girls left the store.

“So, shoes next?”

“What?”

Michelle paused and looked at her friend, “You need shoes to go with that dress and, since I’m guessing you’re going to a fancy place, you’re gonna want accessories.”

Natalia thought for a moment then nodded, “You’re the experienced one.” Michelle smiled and led them to a small shoe store where they found royal blue kitten heels, a matching purse, and a silver bracelet that successfully completed her outfit. Once finished with shopping, Natalia called a Lyft for both herself and Michelle and the two girls departed, Michelle to her home and Natalia to the tower. As soon as she got back into her room, she began to get ready, taking the time to gently curl her hair and redo her makeup. She finished getting ready earlier than she expected and sat at her desk, playing a game on her phone, when she got a text from Peter.

_ Peter has created a group chat with Ned and Natalia _

_ Peter: Hey! Any ideas on what we should watch this weekend? _

_ Ned: We could start her on Star Wars? _

_ Natalia: That’d be fun! I do wanna know what you guys are talking about _

_ Natalia: Could you teach me, like, slang? I don’t understand conversations _

_ Ned: New idea! _

_ Ned: Vine compilations _

_ Peter: YES!! Omg idk why I didn’t think of that sooner _

**Peter has changed the group name to “Sleepover bois”**

_ Natalia: But… I’m not a boy _

_ Peter: No no, it’s like a boi _

_ Ned: How would that make more sense to her _

_ Peter: … _

_ Peter: I’ll explain better when I see you tomorrow _

_ Natalia: Ok! Gonna ask Stark if I can sleep over at dinner tonight _

_ Ned: Good luck! _

A knock at her door caused her to look up just as Tony opened the door.

“Hey, you ready to go? Happy’s in the car and we’ve gotta meet Pepper pretty soon,” Natalia nodded, slipped her shoes on, and grabbed her purse, putting her phone into it. She followed Tony out of her room and into the elevator where they made small talk, Tony asking about her day and if she needed anything. Once in the garage, the two got into a car with Happy and headed to a restaurant to meet up with Pepper. When they arrived, Natalia found herself somewhat overwhelmed by the number of people staring at her and Tony so she remained closely behind him as the hostess led them to their table.

“Tony! How was your trip?” a rather tall, blonde woman greeted him with a peck on the lips.

“I can tell you about that later, but first, I want you to meet someone,” Tony turned around, placing a hand on Natalia’s back and gently guiding her to stand next to him. “Pepper, this is Natalia Porcher. Natalia, this is Pepper, my girlfriend.” Natalia gave a small hello and shook the woman’s hand, then the three sat down in a booth, Pepper and Tony on one side and Natalia on the other. They fell into silence for a little bit, placing their orders when the waitress came around.

“So, how was your party?” Tony asked, taking a sip from his glass.

“Fun, I went with my new friend Michelle.”

“Oh, making friends already? That’s nice to hear.”

“Yeah, Peter and Ned invited me to a sleepover tomorrow.”

“What? Boys?” Pepper interrupted.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine, Pep, Peter’s a good kid. It’s at his apartment, right?” Tony asked and Natalia nodded. “Yeah, it’ll be fine, I’ll take her over there tomorrow and say hi to May so I know that everything’s okay.”

Natalia smiled, “They want to get me more into pop culture.”

Tony and Pepper chuckled and as Pepper was about to reply, their waitress came back with their appetizers. The rest of dinner went on like that, the three of them simply talking and joking around a little and Natalia was beginning to really enjoy it. Until she remembered something.

“Um, Tony,” she started, pausing as she ate her creme brulee and Tony looked at her but continued to eat. “About moving…”

“Right! Yes, we wanted to talk to you about that,” Tony stopped eating and glanced at Pepper who returned his gaze and spoke.

“We know that you’ve only just started school and that you’re beginning to become accustomed to how you’ve been living in the tower. And, well-”

“We have a penthouse around here and wanted to know if you’d move in with us. You’d have your own room, there’s a pool and a hot tub, I think you’d enjoy it,” Tony interrupted. 

“W-why?” Natalia asked and Tony frowned.

“We think you’re a very nice and very special girl.”

“But… I’m not.”

“But we think you are,” Pepper said exasperatedly. “Natalia, sweetheart, move in with us.”

Natalia pressed her lips together and looked down at the table, thinking for a moment before nodding and agreeing. Tony and Pepper grinned and they each took one of her hands in their own, squeezing gently.

“We can go over there now, if you’d like,” Tony suggested. “I, uh, had them move your stuff over because I thought you’d agree.” 

At this, Natalia laughed, finally feeling as though her life was falling into place and glad to have people who care for her.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning, Natalia found herself up earlier than normal, likely due to her getting up early for school but also partially because she was excited. She was beyond thrilled about hanging out with Peter and Ned, mostly because Peter’s powers intrigued her, but also because the two boys often treated her as if she were normal, something she greatly appreciated. After showering, getting dressed, and eating breakfast, it was only about ten which left Natalia another hour before Tony said he’d drive her to Peter’s apartment. She decided to check out the penthouse, having not had the chance to since both Tony and Pepper were home with her and she prefered to investigate alone. The living room was huge with a large, comfy couch in the center of the room and mounted to the wall across from it, a ginormous flat screen tv. As Natalia continued to investigate, she stumbled upon Tony’s home workspace. At first, she was going to leave the room, but as she was closing the door, a white and pink spidersuit caught her eye. She entered the room slowly and approached the suit that was closed in a glass case and studied it for a moment. She noticed that the suit, instead of having a spider crest on the front and a spider design on the back, there was no spider imagery on it. Instead, the mask was almost completely white but it was pink around the eyes, that were shaped much like the ones on Peter’s suit, the suit itself was pink on the sides of the neck down to the elbow and white the rest of the way, and pink from the knees down to the feet. To say that she was in awe of the suit would be an understatement, she was completely and totally in love with the suit she saw inside of the glass. So, without a second thought, she took the suit and went back to her room to try it on. The suit fit almost perfectly and after she slipped on the mask, she stood in front of a full length mirror that was in a corner of her room.

“Wow,” Natalia breathed.

“You do look stunning, Ms. Porcher.”

At the sound of a voice, Natalia whipped around, attempting to figure out where the voice had come from. “Oh, I’m not a peron, I’m your automated assistant.”

“Oh,” Natalia paused. “Do you… have a name?”

“Nope, I’m specific to your suit. Would you like to name me?”

“Um, Michelle? No, that’s weird. How about, uh, Karen?”

“Karen. I like it.”

Natalia grinned, “I’m glad. Um, Karen, can you not share any of what I do with Tony?”

“You don’t want Mr. Stark to know?”

“Well, he doesn’t know that I have powers. I’d like to keep it to myself for just a little while longer.”

“Understood. Mr. Stark has reentered the penthouse.”

As quickly as possible, Natalia took off the suit, got dressed and shoved the suit into the bag she’d packed for the weekend. As soon as she zipped the bag up, Tony knocked and opened the door to her room.

“Hey, kiddo, ready to go?”

Natalia smiled and nodded, following Tony out of her room, into the elevator, and down into the basement garage of the apartment building. Once they were out of the garage and driving down the highway, Tony spoke.

“Do you like the penthouse?”

“Yeah! Yes, it’s pretty cool.”

Tony chuckled, “Did you notice the hot tub?”

Natalia paused, “... Yeah, it looks really cool.”

“Feel free to use it whenever you want, you might have to get a bathing suit, I don’t think we got one for you.”

Natalia nodded and stared out the window, suddenly remembering something. “I know this area.”

“Do you?” Tony glanced over at her and Natalia frowned and continued to stare out of the window.

“This is close to where Spider-Man found me,” Natalia mumbled, biting the inside of her mouth.

“Oh.” The remainder of the car ride was silent and when Tony parked in front of Peter’s apartment building, he didn’t move to get out of the car.

Tony took a deep breath, “Pepper and I care about you, you know. We, um, we want you to have the best experience you can while you grow up and we want to make sure that you grow up in a caring household because God knows I didn’t and- and that effected me a lot.” Tony took another deep breath. “What I’m trying to say is, we care about you and you can always call us if you need us or if you need anything, really.” He pulled out a small black box. “We got you this. Kind of like a “welcome to the family” gift.”

Inside of the box was a silver necklace with a circular, tree pendant that had her, Tony, and Pepper’s names engraved on the outside, a ruby on one branch, a diamond on another, and a sapphire on another. Natalia stared at it, tracing over the gemstones with her finger and her face not showing any emotion.

“So… Do you like it?” 

Natalia immediately smiled and looked up at Tony, “I love it.” She quietly put on the necklace, unable to keep from smiling as she did so. After she put it on, the two exited the car and went into the building, heading into the elevator and up to the floor of Peter’s apartment. Tony knocked on the door and was greeted by a somewhat young and incredibly gorgeous woman who, as soon as she saw Natalia, pulled her into a hug.

“You must be Natalia! Ned and Peter haven’t stopped talking about you, all good things, though,” she grinned as she released the younger girl and Natalia smiled back. “I’m Peter’s aunt, May, it’s so nice to meet you. Tony, good to see you. Come on in.”

Tony and Natalia walked into the living room and Tony closed the door behind him before being hugged by May. The adults spoke to each other for a little bit and Natalia shuffled her feet before hearing someone call her name.

“Hey, Natalia!” Ned greeted and Natalia immediately pulled him into a hug and then Peter.

“Since when are you a hugger?” Peter asked as she released him.

“Since I’m like okay with people now,” Natalia shrugged.

“I don’t know why you’re complaining, she gives pretty great hugs,” Ned commented and Natalia giggled and hugged him again, full on laughing when he picked her up off of her feet and set her back down. 

“You’re giggling! What is going on with you?” Peter asked, a smile on his face. 

“I’m coming out of my shell, don’t make it weird,” Natalia rolled her eyes, still giggling.

“Alright, sweetheart, I’m gonna go, Pepper’s gonna pick you up tomorrow,” Tony spoke up and hugged the girl. “Sorry, I don’t think we’ve properly met. Tony Stark.”   
“Uh, I’m uh, Ned Leeds, sir,” Ned stuttered as he shook the older man’s hand. 

“Well, I’m leaving now so you kids have fun,” Tony said giving Natalia a hug before leaving. As soon as the door closed behind him, Natalia unconsciously began to chew her lip.

“Are you nervous?”

“Hm?” Natalia glanced over at Peter who was staring at her intently. 

“When you’re nervous you bite your lip. Why’re you nervous?” 

Natalia shrugged.

“How about we start with vine compilations? Then you’d be able to understand other students,” Nate suggested and the two others agreed. They sat in Peter’s room for a couple of hours, laughing their asses off and generally having a good time before they switched to watching movies. The three watched a multitude of different movies, some from the 80s and some from recent years, before Aunt May poked her head in and asked Peter to retrieve the takeout that she’d ordered. Peter agreed and left Ned and Natalia alone in his room, neither of them speaking for the first couple of minutes they were alone.

“So… Do you like music?”

“I’ve, um, I’ve never really- like- listened to much music.”

“What? Really?”

“I was raised by people who tortured me, Ned.”

“Right, right.” Ned paused for a moment. “... Can I show you one of my favorite bands?”

Natalia agreed and Ned messed around with Peter’s laptop for a minute before beginning to play music and the sound of Freddie Mercury’s voice filled the room. Natalia was immediately in awe of the man’s voice and sat silently while Ned quietly sang along to “Don’t Stop Me Now.”

“That was amazing!”

“Oh, then you’d love “Bohemian Rhapsody,” it’s like, the best song ever written,” Ned clicked on a video that had the lyrics to the song and after a couple of seconds, Natalia found herself singing along. After about a minute, Ned stopped singing along and while she thought that was odd, she continued to sing and found herself having fun as she did. When the song finished, Natalia glanced over at Ned, wondering why he stopped singing, when she noticed Peter standing in the doorway, him and Ned staring at her slack jawed. 

“You sound like an angel.”

At Peter’s comment, Natalia’s eyes grew wide and and she began attempting to stutter out a response but couldn’t seem to string words together.

“You know, there’s a musical club at school. You should join it,” Ned commented. Natalia began to try and respond again when Peter cut her off.

“Ned’s right, you’d be incredible. They’re casting for their production of  _ Hairspray _ soon, you should try and get a part.”

Natalia took a deep breath before laughing slightly, “Okay, yeah. Maybe I’ll try.”

Peter and Ned smiled and the three went into the living room to eat the food that Peter had brought back and, per Ned’s request, watched  _ Hairspray.  _ Close to the end of the movie, Natalia dozed off, sitting in between Peter and Ned on the couch and leaning her head on Peter’s shoulder.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas everyone! Thank you all so much for reading! I hope you continue to enjoy the story!

Natalia woke up with a start, noticing that it was dark outside and that she was tucked in in Peter’s bed. She knew her spider sense had woken her up, but why hadn’t Peter woken up as well? Carefully, she slipped out of bed and retrieved her backpack then slipped out of the window that someone had left unlocked. After closing the window behind her, she slid down the fire escape and dove into an alleyway where she changed into her suit and stuck her bag to the wall using one of her web shooters.

“Hey, Karen?”

“Good evening Ms. Porcher. Why are you up so late?”

“Uh, something woke me up and I wanna know what it is?”

“Tapping into nearby security cameras.”

Natalia glanced around for a moment before Karen brought a camera feed into view. 

“There’s a bank robbery taking place on forty-fifth street.”

“Thanks, Karen!” Natalia shot a web at the top of a nearby building and swung off towards the bank. It took her a couple of tries to truly get swinging correct, but once she did, she was flipping through the air and thoroughly enjoying herself. She landed in front of the bank and entered the building then went into the back where five men were attempting to drill into a safe.

“Uh- um, hey! Stealing is illegal!” she shouted and the men turned to look at her. One of them scoffed and pointed a gun at her and she shot a web at his hand and pulled him forward, effectively slamming him onto his face. Another guy ran at her and attempted to punch her so she dodged the blow and punched him a couple of times before swinging her leg around, kicking the man, and launching him against the wall on the opposite side of the room. 

“Woah! How did you do that?” a voice behind her exclaimed. Natalia turned around and there, standing by the door of the room, was Spider-Man. “Hey! Behind you!”

Natalia didn’t act quickly enough and had her arms pinned down by her waist as she was picked up. She began to struggle and a second later, she dropped to the floor with the man who was holding her on the ground behind her. Natalia immediately recognized what had happened and stood back up, facing the bank robbers. Using Wanda’s powers, she picked up the man that had been holding her before and threw him backwards into the three men that were still near the safe. 

“How did you- but you’re not-” 

“No, I’m not Wanda,” Natalia glanced at the boy before securing the attempted robbers with webs and turning around to face him.

“Then who are you?”

“I’m, uh,” Natalia paused. “Mimik.”

“As in, copy?” Peter asked.

“Yeah, but with a “k” instead of a “c” at the end.”

“Well Mimik with a “k” at the end, we should leave before the police get here,” Peter said, and it was then that Natalia noticed the sound of sirens drawing closer. The two ran out of the building and went to the roof of a nearby building, watching the police go in and arrest the bank robbers.

“Do you always watch after you apprehend someone?” Natalia asked after a while of sitting in silence.

“Not always, I just don’t think there’s much else going on,” Peter said and turned to face her. “Are you new? I’ve never heard of you before.”

Natalia hummed, “Kind of. Still getting used to my powers.”

“Yeah, what are your powers exactly?” 

“I can mimic the powers of any superhero that I’m kind of close to. Since I’ve been near both you and Wanda fairly recently I can use your powers.”

“Anyone’s powers?”

“Yeah.”

“Even, like, Thor?”

Natalia laughed, “Well he hasn’t been on Earth in a while but yeah, I’m guessing I could use his powers.”

Peter let out a quiet wow before speaking, “That’s kind of awesome.”

“It is pretty awesome, isn’t it,” Natalia chuckled. The two sat in silence for a short while more, enjoying each other’s company and watching cars go by, before Natalia remembered that she should sneak back in before he had the chance to. “I have to go.”

“Oh, really?” Peter asked as Natalia stood and headed for the other side of the roof.

“Yeah, sorry. I don’t want my parents to notice that I’m gone.”

Peter stood and followed her, “Will- Will I see you again?”

“Sure, I have to get the hang of this superhero thing,” Natalia laughed. “There’s always the chance that we’ll end up at the same fight. If you sense danger, then I do too.”

Peter nodded and Natalia waved at him before swinging off back towards Peter’s apartment, retrieving her backpack from where she’d stuck it to the wall in an alley before climbing up to Peter’s window and into his room. After checking to make sure Ned was still asleep, she changed into her pajamas, hid her suit in her bag, and climbed into Peter’s bed. As she began to drift off to sleep, after feeling the stress of the night fall upon her body, she heard Peter come back into his room and change out of his suit.

* * *

 

“A hero with  _ your  _ powers?”

“Yeah! And get this, she can use the powers of any hero she’s near.”

“No way! What’s her name?”

“Her name is Mimik, with a “k.”

“Why a “k?”

“Don’t know, didn’t ask her.”

When Natalia stirred the two stopped speaking then continued when she stopped moving. 

“Is she cute?”

“She was wearing a suit, Ned, I don’t know.”

“Well… Was her voice cute?”

“... Fine, yes, she had a very cute voice.”

Natalia felt her face heat up at Peter saying she had a cute voice and she immediately scolded herself for that. It’s not like she had a crush on him, right?

… Right?

“Did you learn anything else about her?”

“Not really, I mean, she’s like brand new. I could tell that she didn’t have a handle on her powers yet.”

“Huh. Whose powers do you think she had the best handle on?”

“Mine, I think. Then again, mine are pretty easy to understand.”

At this point, Natalia was getting restless and finally decided to stretch and sit up, rubbing a hand over her face before opening her eyes.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Ned smiled and Natalia gave a sleepy smile back.

“You’re a  _ very  _ heavy sleeper,” Peter commented and Natalia laughed.

“Yeah, before I was rescued sleeping helped get me through long days.”

“Wanna get breakfast?” Peter asked and his two friends nodded. The three went into the kitchen, said good morning to May, and began to get breakfast when they noticed the news story that May was watching.

“... New hero on the horizon? Last night, a group of five armed men attempted to rob a bank but were stopped by, who police originally thought, was Spider-Man. However, the men say that there was another hero at the scene.”

“That chick had the powers of Spider-Man  _ and  _ Scarlet Witch! I’m telling you! She knocked my friend on his face with a web  _ and then  _ kicked me into a wall and broke my ribs!”

“Did she really?” Ned whispered to Peter.

“Yeah, totally kicked their butts,” Peter whispered back. When Natalia glanced over at him after looking at the TV, she noticed that he had a small smile on his face. She could stop the smile that spread across her face and quickly looked back down at the counter where she was pouring her cereal. Again, she didn’t have a crush on Peter.

… But maybe she had a small crush on Spider-Man.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Violence warning! (It's very mild)

The next week went by rather slowly, Natalia auditioned for the school musical and got the lead role, and that Thursday, she found herself sitting in the auditorium and waiting for Michelle to finish Decathlon practice. She was sitting in one of the seats of the second row, reading a book that Michelle had loaned her, and mildly paying attention to the questions they were asked.

“An inescapable fact of human existence that results from the fact that the available resources are always less than our limitless desires is referred to as what?” the teacher asked.

“Scarcity,” Natalia mumbled, flipping a page in her book. 

“Oh! Uh, scarcity,” one of the kids responded and when told that they were right, Natalia smiled to herself.

“The degree of a monomial is?”

“The sum of the exponents of all of its variables,” Natalia mumbled. 

“I’m sorry, I can’t focus because Michelle’s friend keeps speaking,” Flash complained.

“Maybe I’d be less annoying if you were smarter,” Natalia retorted, not looking up from her book and Michelle snickered.

“Wh- see what I mean? Kick her out or something!” 

“Ms. Porcher, would you mind being quiet?” the teacher asked, clearly exasperated.

Natalia smiled at him, “No problem, Mr. Harrington.”

“Thank you. Okay, Flash, the dependent system is?”

“A system of equations that has infinitely many solutions,” Natalia mumbled, turning a page in her book.

“Again! Can you  _ please  _ kick her out?”

“No no, wait,” Michelle started. “Natalia, what’s an inconsistent system?”

“A system of equations or inequalities that has no solution,” Natalia answered without hesitation, still reading her book.

“What’s function notation?”

“When you use F(x)= to represent y=.”

“And what’s multiplicative identity?”

Natalia closed her book and looked at her friend. “A one equals one A.”

“You should put her on the team,” Michelle said, looking at Mr. Harrington.

Mr. Harrigan looked at Natalia for a moment. “Natalia, would you like to join the Decathlon team?”

Natalia went quiet while she tucked her book into her backpack. “Sure, I guess.”

“Excellent! You’ll be in the first reserve, why don’t you come up on stage and practice?” 

For the next hour, Natalia easily and quickly answered all questions posed to her, leaving Mr. Harrington, and Flash but he wouldn’t admit it, incredibly impressed. At the end of practice, Michelle and Natalia grabbed their belongings and began to exit the auditorium, chatting about nothing as they walked.

“Uh, hey, Natalia.”

At the sound of his voice, Natalia rolled her eyes and turned around. “What, Flash? Am I distracting you again?”

“Yeah, I, uh, I guess you could say that,” Flash laughed nervously. “I just- I wanted to tell you that you did a  _ really  _ good job today. I had no idea that you were so smart.”

“There are a lot of things you don’t know about me.”

“I, um, I think I’d like to know those things.”

“... Sorry, what?”

“W- What I mean is that I, uh, I’d like- do, uh, do you wanna like, go out sometime?”

“What. The  _ fuck _ ,” Michelle startled Natalia slightly. She hadn’t really heard anyone cursed since she broke out, Tony and Pepper took care not to curse in front of her, in case they upset her, and Peter and Ned didn’t curse, like, ever. But what Michelle said didn’t startle her nearly as much as the next words to come out of her mouth.

“Sure.”

“ _ What _ ?”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Flash, we can go out sometime. Do  _ not  _ make me regret saying yes.”

“You won’t! You definitely will not. How’s, um, tomorrow night? I could pick you up and we could go to one of my favorite restaurants.”

“No! I mean- not- I can meet you there. I think my dad would freak out a little bit if you picked me up,” Natalia spoke quickly, handing Flash her phone. He smiled at her as he put his number into her phone then handed it back to her.

“So, I’ll, uh, text you,” Flash said and Natalia nodded, already being pulled out of the door by Michelle. 

“Yeah, bye,” Natalia waved, nearly tripping as Michelle continued to tug on her arm.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Michelle asked as soon as they entered the hallway.

“I don’t know! I mean, he’s cute,” Natalia spoke but stopped when Michelle stared at her and scoffed. “He showed interest in me, no one’s done that before. It’s just a date, if I don’t like him then I won’t date him, easy.”

“Really?” the two girls stopped in front of the school and Michelle glared at Natalia, her arms crossed.

“Yes, Michelle, if I don’t like him then I won’t date him,” Natalia shrugged.

“Fine. I already know you won’t like him,” Michelle said and began to walk away.

Natalia frowned and caught up with her friend, “What do you mean you know?”

“I mean that you won’t. You need someone you can trust and tell everything, someone that can understand why you have certain quirks and who’ll be nice to you constantly. Flash is not that person.”

“You barely know me, why do you think you know what’s best?”

“Because I can read people. Can we  _ please  _ get coffee now? I’ve been up since four.” At this, Natalia rolled her eyes and the two continued about their day, getting coffee and walking around town for a short while before they decided to part ways. Natalia decided to walk back to the penthouse, figuring that her first time taking the train would be rather nerve-racking and that she’d probably want one of her friends to accompany her. If she could ever muster the courage to ask her guardians if they could come over, that is. As she rounded a corner, getting closer to her apartment building, a man leaning against a wall glanced up at her.

“Hey dollface, fancy some company?”

Natalia chose to ignore the man and kept walking, flinching when she heard him yell at her.

“I was talking to you, bitch!” Natalia walked quicker, hoping to get as far away from him as possible when she heard him grunt then grab her arm and yank her into an alleyway.

“Don’t you know it’s rude to ignore a man when he’s talking to you?” he sneered and Natalia wrinkled her nose at the smell of his breath, bourbon and cigarettes. “Little pris, huh? I should teach you how to respect men.”

At the feeling of a hand on her neck, Natalia momentarily blacked out, grabbing the man by his neck and yanking him off of her before slamming him into the pavement and repeatedly kicking his body. Once she came back into reality, she stopped what she was doing and ran to her building, screaming when someone grabbed her by the waist.

“Hey, woah, where’s the fire, kiddo?” As soon as Tony’s voice rang through her ears, she stopped struggling and hugged him tightly, shaking as she held onto his jacket. “What happened?”

Natalia didn’t say anything but looked up at him, tears now falling freely down her face and he immediately ushered her into the elevator and took her up to the penthouse. Once there, he sat her down, made her tea, and let her take her time telling him what happened. 

“He was- it just felt like being trapped again. I don’t know what came over me,” she partially lied and Tony sighed. It was obvious that he was upset, but it seemed as though he didn’t want to scare her by becoming angry so instead, he took a moment to collect himself before speaking.

“I don’t want you walking home alone anymore. You either get picked up by me, Pepper, or Happy or you take the train with Peter or one of your other friends, okay?”

Natalia nodded, looking down at her hands and took a shaky breath. They sat in silence for a short while before someone texted Natalia.

_ Flash: Hey, it’s Flash. Can’t wait for our date tomorrow <3 _

Natalia smiled slightly.

_ Natalia: Me either _

And after a short moment of thinking, she texted him again.

_ Natalia: <3 _


	9. Chapter 9

The next day seemed to drag on, what with Michelle being mildly irritated with Natalia and her not wanting to tell Ned and Peter for fear of them being angry with her. Nevertheless, Friday night came and Natalia found herself in the passenger’s seat of Pepper’s car, wearing a black sundress with a floral pattern, matching black flats, a black shoulder bag, and the necklace that Tony had given her. She chewed on her lip, becoming more nervous as they began to near the destination and Pepper, after noticing that she was nervous, decided to speak.

“First date jitters?”

“I guess you could say that,” Natalia mumbled. “It’s just that, none of my friends really like him and they all think that I’m making a bad decision.”

Pepper hummed, “Well, life is about making bad decisions. You make them and you learn from them and try to make better decisions until one day, you find yourself making pretty okay decisions.”

Natalia sighed and nodded, not wanting to say anything more as they pulled up in front of the restaurant and she felt her stomach do backflips. She placed her hand on the door handle and felt Pepper’s hand on her shoulder. 

“Hey, it’ll be okay. Text me when you want me to pick you up, okay?”

Natalia said goodbye to Pepper and exited the car, walking in front of it and onto the sidewalk when she gazed upon her date for the evening. In the orange glow of the restaurant sign, he seemed to have the aura of an angel and for the first time, Natalia noticed that he was kind of cute.

“Hey, you look cute. Come on, I already reserved a table,” Flash said, gently lacing his fingers with Natalia’s. The two entered the restaurant and were then seated in a booth towards the back, a single rose and a candle in the middle of the table. They sat across from each other and both ordered water, asking the waiter to give them a little while before they ordered.

“Didn’t want to do anything special to your hair?” Flash asked after a moment of silence.

“I thought it was cute,” Natalia said quietly, gently tugging at a strand of hair.

“No, it is, just not super special,” Flash paused. “I think you’d look great with longer hair.”

“Really? You think I could pull it off?” Natalia asked and Flash smiled and nodded. When the waiter came back, Flash ordered for the both of them, a plate of pasta for himself and a salad for Natalia that he insisted she would love. She very much preferred pasta over salad.

But he didn’t ask.

They fell into silence for a short while before Natalia remembered a joke Peter had told her earlier and began to tell it.

“Babe, I don’t really wanna talk about Penis Parker tonight. The night is supposed to be about us,” Flash interrupted. Natalia’s smile fell from her face but she agreed and dropped the subject, beginning to chew on the inside of her cheek as she began to become more nervous. 

“Don’t bite your cheek, it doesn’t suit you.”

Natalia nodded and stopped, choosing instead to scratch the back of her hand under the table, needing a way to decrease her anxiety. After barely a moment of silence, Flash launched into a story about what he and his friends had done earlier that day and Natalia found herself laughing and nodding along as he spoke. The rest of dinner went on like that, Natalia not speaking often and Flash telling her about himself and his day. While Natalia did feel as though it was a bit lopsided, however, she did feel somewhat happy as she listened to him speak and laugh. After they finished their meal, the two decided to take a short walk, not straying far away from the restaurant so Pepper could still easily find Natalia when she came to retrieve her. They continued to talk, well Flash talked and Natalia listened, and at some point, Flash put his jacket around Natalia’s shoulders. She felt oddly safe and warm, even though he was being a bit of an ass, and continued to walk and talk. A few minutes before Pepper arrived to pick Natalia up, the two stopped in front of the restaurant again and, with a smile on his face, Flash kissed her.

But she didn’t feel anything.

* * *

 

After a weekend of hanging out with Ned and Peter, who wanted to start her on Star Wars, and Michelle, who wanted to go shopping for new books, Natalia found herself standing at her locker, sucking down an iced coffee Michelle had given her and shuffling books from her backpack and into her locker. 

“Morning cutie,” a voice came from behind her and she glanced over her shoulder.

“Hey Flash,” Natalia smiled, finishing putting things in her locker and turning around to face him.

“How’re you doing this lovely Monday morning?” 

“Pretty good, you?”

“Also good,” Flash smiled, leaning forward slightly.

“ _ What  _ is going on?” Peter asked, walking towards them.

“Well  _ Parker,  _ I’m talking to my girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend?” Peter frowned.

“You never really asked me,” Natalia mumbled, looking at Flash.

“The kiss  _ was  _ me asking you,” Flash responded.

“When- what?” Peter asked. “You didn’t mention anything over the weekend.”

“You hung out with him over the weekend?” 

“Yeah, he and Ned are my friends,” she mumbled, clearly annoyed.

“We’ll talk about that later. I’ve gotta catch up with a friend before class,” Flash said before kissing Natalia and wandering off.

“Why in the  _ world  _ would you date him? He’s a horrible person,” Peter asked and Natalia shrugged.   
“I think you guys misjudged him a little bit. He’s a fairly sweet guy,” Natalia shrugged and Peter scoffed as the two began to head to class. 

“I honestly doubt that. He calls me Penis Parker.”

“Yeah, not a huge fan of that.”

“So then why-”

“He’s nice to me, Peter. And no one has ever shown interest in me before so it’s kind of flattering.”

Peter hummed but didn’t say anything, knowing that he couldn’t talk her out of dating him. As Natalia sat next to Peter in Chemistry, she couldn’t help but allow her mind to wander and think of everything that her friends and Pepper had said about dating Flash. Deep down, she knew that it wouldn’t last, it was only high school after all, but she still felt as though something was a little bit off. She did like Flash, she knew that much, but she wasn’t entirely certain that she was into him.

So she began to be okay with her relationship for all the wrong reasons.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter contains instances of attempted assault and drugging. If this bothers you, read the summary in the note at the end of the chapter.

A couple of weeks passed and Natalia felt like she and Flash had grown to enjoy each other. Sometime after their third date, Flash had given Natalia a faux gold bracelet with his name engraved on it, which Michelle despised because- as she had put it, no woman is a man’s property. Truthfully, Natalia wasn’t a huge fan of the bracelet either, but she told Flash she loved it and wore it during school but never at home or with her friends. Flash had become increasingly more irritated with Natalia becoming closer with Peter and Ned, which was what they were currently fighting about. Natalia was pacing in her room, holding her phone to her ear and absentmindedly shooting webs until she decided to hang upside down.

“I just don’t understand why you hang out with him.”

“And I don’t understand why you hate him. Peter is a great guy, he’s just a little nerdy.”

“Nerdy is an understatement, babe, that loser watches Star Wars, like, religiously.”

Natalia glanced at the only poster in her room, an old promotional poster for one of the original films, a gift from Ned once the three of them made it to The Force Awakens.

“... What’s wrong with that?”

Flash scoffed, “Honestly babe, you’re not the brains or the looks in this relationship.”

“Thought you said I was cute,” Natalia mumbled, standing from where she’d been dangling.

“Don’t mumble, it’s unattractive,” Flash commented then sighed. “I’ve gotta go, look, I’ll see you later tonight, wear something cute.”

At the sound of the call being hung up, Natalia tossed her phone onto her bed, sighing and running a hand through her hair. After a couple of minutes of staring at her wall, she shook her head and decided to get dressed, not wanting to keep Flash waiting. She put on a pair of light blue skinny jeans, a somewhat tight black tank top, and a royal blue flannel that she’d snagged from Peter at some point. She shoved some clothes into her backpack, grabbed her phone, and began to leave the apartment.

“Freeze.” Natalia stopped walking and turned around slowly, looking at Tony who was leaning against the kitchen island. “Where are you going?”

“Hanging out with Peter and Ned,” Natalia lied. “Sleepover.”

“Really? Fifth weekend in a row, isn’t it?”

Natalia shrugged, “We’re close friends.”

Tony’s jaw tightened, “If you’re lying to me and I find out, I’m not going to be happy.”

_ Then you won’t find out. _

“I promise, Tony, I’m going to Peter’s apartment and tomorrow evening, you can pick me up from there.”

“Fine. Have fun.”

Natalia smiled and waved, exiting the penthouse and heading towards the train station where she took the train for three stops before getting off. She walked for a couple of blocks before arriving at the apartment building that Flash had sent her the address to, stopping in an alleyway to stick her bag against a wall before she went inside. She easily found the apartment and not long after entering, found her boyfriend who was busy talking to his friends and sipping from a red solo cup.

“Hey babe, guys, this is my girlfriend Natalia,” Flash said, putting his arm around Natalia's waist and pulling her close. “Babe, these are the guys.”

Natalia gave a small smile and waved, attempting to not come off as incredibly uncomfortable in an attempt to remain somewhat normal. One of Flash’s friends handed her a cup of something and Natalia took it and sipped it. She noticed that the drink tasted somewhat salty, but since she’d never had alcohol before she assumed it was normal and finished the drink after a short while. She didn’t feel much of anything so when Flash’s friend offered her another cup, she took it and drank half of it before noticing that she was beginning to feel a little out of it. 

“Hey, babe, I’m not, uh, not feeling super great,” Natalia started, grabbing Flash’s hand.

“Yeah, that’s how being tipsy feels,” Flash laughed and his friends laughed along.

“N-No, it’s like, I feel like I’m like, dizzy and out of it,” Natalia said, suddenly feeling bile rise in her throat.

“You’re just a lightweight, take it easy on them,” Flash shrugged her off and wandered off, mingling with his other friends.

“What’s he thinking leaving such a pretty girl all by herself?” one of Flash’s friends appeared by her side and she gave a small smile, not wanting to speak to him. “You feeling okay? You look a little pale.”

Natalia nodded, suddenly feeling a bit dizzier and subtly leaning against a wall for support.

“Yeah, you don’t look so good. Why don’t you lie down for a little bit?” the boy asked, grabbing Natalia’s arm and pulling her towards a bedroom. Natalia shook her head and attempted to pull away but the guy only held on tighter and continued to insist that she go into his room and lie down. Finally, Natalia snapped and kneed the guy in his groin, immediately running out of the apartment, down the stairwell, and into the alley where she’d left her backpack. She managed to make it two blocks before not being able to walk anymore so she went into an alleyway and sat next to a dumpster so that no one would be able to see her from the street. Natalia retrieved her phone from her back pocket and dialed Peter’s number, noticing that it was a little bit past one am.

“Mm… Hello?” Peter answered.

“P-Peter, help.”

“Natalia? What’s wrong? Where are you?”

“Alley, I was at a party and there was something in my drink-”

“Send me your location right now, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

Natalia hung up and texted Peter her location, keeping her phone in one hand and holding one of her web shooters in her other hand. Her vision began to go blurry and she nearly blacked out when a flash of red appeared in front of her. She began to panic when the man took his mask off to reveal-

“Peter,” Natalia breathed a sigh of relief, subtly placing the hand with her web shooter back into her backpack.

“Yeah, I’m- I’m Spider-Man. Come on, we gotta get you home,” Peter said, beginning to help Natalia up.

“N-No! No. I told- I told Tony I was at your apartment,” Natalia said, now leaning on Peter who had her backpack on his back. 

“You lied to Mr. Stark?” Peter said and Natalia shrugged. “God we’re talking about that later. Okay, I’m gonna hold you but I need you to hold on to me as tight as you can, okay?”

Natalia nodded and Peter wrapped his arm around her waist as she put her arms around his neck and clasped her hands together. She closed her eyes as Peter took off, swinging through the city until they reached Peter’s window and Peter let Natalia in before himself. 

“Okay, come on, pajamas on and sleep. You’re safe now,” Peter said, handing Natalia her backpack and turning around so he couldn’t see her. Natalia changed somewhat quickly and flopped on the bottom bunk of Peter’s bed, groaning quietly as her body relaxed and she finally allowed her mind to be at ease. Before she drifted off to sleep, she took the bracelet that Flash had given her and chucked it across the room, no longer wanting anything to do with him. As Peter tucked the girl in, she smiled up at him, allowing her eyes to drift shut and realizing that she never should’ve dated Flash.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After lying to Tony, Natalia goes to a party with Flash and is drugged by one of his friends. She gets away, "finds out" that Peter is Spider-Man, and Peter rescues her.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year, everyone! Thanks for your continuous support!

Natalia woke with a start, immediately beginning to panic as she realized she wasn’t in her room before realizing that she was in Peter’s room and calming down. She laid her head back down on the pillow and stretched, her hands hitting a bed post and the wall next to the bed.

“Oh hey, you’re awake,” Peter said, first poking his head into the room before entering, Ned following behind him. “How’re you feeling?”

“I’m… Okay, I guess. My idiot boyfriend left me at a party by myself and I was drugged so I’m about as well as you’d think,” Natalia sat back up and Ned sat next to her and pulled her into a hug.

“I’m sorry, Lia.”

“Lia?” Natalia asked as he released her.

“Oh, sorry if you don’t like the nickname-”

“No! No, it’s cute,” Natalia interrupted, smiling.

“You’re sure you’re okay? Not feeling dizzy or anything?” Peter asked, sitting in a chair he placed next to the bed.

“Not really, why?”

“Just wondering,” Peter trailed off and Natalia nodded.

“Is my phone around here?”

Peter nodded and retrieved her phone from where it was charging on his desk and handed it to her. Natalia checked her texts and was dissappointed, but not surprised, to find that the only person who had texted and called her overnight was Tony. She responded to the texts and listened to the voicemail, which were just Tony telling her to be safe and that he’d pick her up the next day, and closed her phone, tossing it to the end of the bed.

“I’m gonna get dressed,” Natalia said quietly and Ned stood up and let her get out of bed. She shuffled through her bag, managing to find a pair of jeans but no t-shirt causing her to sigh in frustration.

“Forget something?”

“Yeah, I need to borrow a shirt.”

“Didn’t you steal my flannel last week?”

Natalia rolled her eyes and took the t-shirt that Peter offered her, grabbing her jeans with her other hand and leaving the room to change in the bathroom. After changing and brushing her hair, she began to venture back to Peter’s room when May stopped her.

“Good morning, Natalia. Didn’t hear you come in last night.”

“Yeah, I didn’t want to disturb you so I tried to be as quiet as possible,” Natalia shrugged, beginning to walk past the older woman.

“I also thought it was interesting that Tony let you come over so late.”

Natalia stopped walking and turned around to face May, noting that she showed no emotion and simply drank from the mug she was holding. 

“I won’t mention it, don’t worry,” May smiled and Natalia let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding in. 

“Thanks, May.”

May nodded and Natalia went back into Peter’s room where Peter and Ned were sitting and talking with each other. When Natalia walked closer to them, Peter tossed her her ringing phone and she answered without looking at the caller ID.

“Hello?”   
“Hey babe, are we still on for dinner tonight?”

“Yeah, no.”

“Why, is something wrong? You okay?”

“Is something wrong? You left me by myself at a party where I didn’t know anyone.”

“Yeah, you were having fun.”

“Having fun does  _ not  _ mean getting drugged by one of your scumbag friends,” Natalia spoke, her teeth pressed tightly together. When Flash said nothing, Natalia took a deep breath and continued. “You- you left me alone! I didn’t know anyone except you and- and you just left me there!”

“Nata-”

“Do you have any idea how scared I was?” she interrupted. “I asked you for help and you brushed me off. One of  _ your  _ friends almost-” Natalia stopped to breathe, placing a hand over her face.

“Not all of the guys there were my friends-”

“Shut the fuck up!” Natalia screamed. “You don’t  _ fucking _ get to reason with me.  _ You  _ were supposed to protect me, you were my  _ fucking boyfriend _ , Flash. Instead of you helping me, I had to call Peter in the middle of the night and ask him to pick me up.”

Flash paused and Natalia could hear him shuffling. “I  _ was  _ your boyfriend?”

“Yeah. Was. Don’t you  _ ever  _ talk to me again.” Natalia then hung up and, without thinking, threw her phone, full force, at the wall behind her, her phone shattering upon impact.

“Hey, uh, I know it’s a bad time but- why are your hands red?” Ned asked and Natalia glanced down at her fists which were glowing bright red. She attempted to suppress it by ringing her hands together and shrugged, mumbling something about it being his imagination.

“You also completely decimated your phone. Was that our imagination?” Peter intejected and Natalia shrugged and avoided his gaze.

“Can we talk about this another time, please?” 

Peter and Ned agreed and the three then went on to listen to music and watch videos for hours until Tony arrived to take Natalia home.

“Have fun, kiddo?” Tony asked as the three teenagers exited Peter’s room.

“Yeah, I did. I, uh, lost my phone on the train over… Sorry,” Natalia said, ringing her hands together.

“Oh. Not a problem, we’ll get you a new one on the way home,” Tony shrugged. The three kids hugged each other goodbye and Natalia left with Tony, the two getting into a car and heading home not long after. The car ride was mostly silent, with Tony watching the road and Natalia staring out the window until Tony cleared his throat and began to speak.

“I feel like you’re shutting me out.”

“I don’t exactly trust adults, Tony,” Natalia said, glancing at Tony.

“Yeah, I know,” Tony trailed off. “It’s just that- well, I mean- I- we, want to help you. But in order to help you, I have to know what’s going on in your life.”

Natalia stayed quiet and after a minute, Tony sighed and gave up on the subject. The remainder of the drive was silent and as soon as they were in the penthouse, Natalia shut herself in her room and decided to do her homework. She’d done her homework for about two hours before Tony knocked on her door and let himself in.

“Got you a new phone. One of those, uh, iPhones,” Tony said and Natalia continued to stare at her homeworking, not moving as she calculated one of her math problems. Tony set the box down on her bed and turned to leave.

“If I tell you what’s been going on, you can’t get mad at me.”

Tony paused, his hand holding the doorknob. “I can’t promise that I won’t be mad.”

“Fine but if you yell at me I’ll never open up to you again.”

Natalia spun around in her chair to face him and he nodded, moving to sit at the foot of her bed across from her. Natalia chewed the inside of her cheek, looking everywhere except Tony and told him, almost, everything. She told him about Flash and the party, about the music, movies, and games that she’d come to adore, and even about everything that had happened when she was growing up. A man of his word, Tony didn’t yell at her, even though Natalia could tell that he was irritated about her not telling him about Flash, and by the end of the conversation, Natalia was somewhat glad to have told someone about what she’d gone through. Even though she didn’t feel like she could tell him about her powers just yet.


	12. Chapter 12

The next week had begun to go by smoothly, the four kids had fallen into somewhat of a routine at that point. In the mornings, Michelle would bring Natalia a cup of iced coffee and she’d walk with her to class, then Natalia would walk with Peter to her next class, and during lunch, the four would sit together and chat. After school most days, Natalia and Michelle would walk to the train station and then part ways, but on some occasions, like today, Natalia would make up an excuse, change into her suit and crime watch with Peter.

“So, Mimik,” Peter began shortly after the two took to a rooftop after apprehending a car thief. 

“So, Spider-Man.”

“How old are you?”

“How old are  _ you _ ?”

Peter sighed and moved to sit on the edge of the roof and Natalia followed. “I’m just asking because I think we’re the same age.”

Natalia hummed for a moment, “I’m fifteen.”

“So am I! When’s your birthday?”

“You first.”

“Okay, I’m October twelfth.”

“Ha! I’m older than you. I’m June sixteenth.”

“Oh! You have the same birthday as my friend, that’s pretty cool,” Peter laughed and Natalia gave an uncomfortable chuckle.

“Does this friend have a name?” Natalia asked, not wanting the conversation to fall flat or for Peter to become suspicious of her identity.

“Yeah, Lia, well my friends and I started calling her Lia, her name is Natalia,” Peter paused and Natalia felt like she could hear the smile in his voice when he spoke again. “She’s uh, she’s really cool.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, she’s a little awkward sometimes, but that’s not really her fault. I can tell that she’s trying though, it’s really the effort that matters, you know?”

Natalia nodded and leaned back on her elbows, gazing at the sunset contentedly before remembering that she’d invited Ned over to help her rehearse her lines for the musical. 

“Hey P- uh, Spidey, what time is it?”

“It’s,” Peter dragged out the “s” as he retrieved his phone from his pocket and checked the time. “Five ten.”

At this, Natalia quickly stood up and retrieved her backpack from behind her, apologizing to Peter and making up an excuse about having to do something with her parents. She said goodbye to Peter and swung off towards her apartment building, attempting to get to her room as quickly as possible and, hopefully, before Ned got there. She got to her building and climbed up the side of it, reaching the window she’d left unlocked that morning and tilting the top part forward so she could climb into the room and onto her ceiling. 

“Are you  _ kidding me _ ?!” A voice from below startled Natalia and she shrieked and dropped to the floor before looking at the source of the voice.

“Ned! It’s not- I’m not- this isn’t-” Natalia stuttered, scrambling to her feet. “How did you get in here?”

“Tony let me in because he thought you were in your room, and we are  _ not  _ changing the subject,” at this Natalia groaned and pulled her mask off then leaned against a wall and slid down to the floor. “ _ You’re  _ Mimik.”

“Yeah.”

“Which explains the whole phone shattering thing.”

“Yep.”

“Does Mr. Stark know?”

“No, and you won’t tell him,” Natalia exhaled. “And you won’t tell Peter either.”

“How do you-”

“My power is being able to copy other people’s powers, Ned, whenever I’m near him it’s like- like an adrenaline rush,” Natalia explained.

“Huh.” Ned paused, attempting to figure out how to phrase his next sentence. “Is that why- why you, uh, why you’re so, uh, smart?”

“I think so, yeah,” Natalia paused. “I think I have some weird connection with Peter, like, I shouldn’t be as smart as he is.”

Ned frowned, “I wouldn’t say that, you can’t attribute  _ everything  _ to Peter.”

“Okay, okay, I shouldn’t be this smart given my background. At least, not now.”

Ned hummed, seemingly still upset with what Natalia had said. He opened his mouth to speak again when Tony knocked on the door. 

“Hey guys, pizza’s here,” the doorknob began to shift and Natalia immediately aimed her wrist at the door and glued it shut with a web.

“Wh- why did you do that?!” Ned whispered as Natalia scrambled to her feet.

“I don’t know, I panicked!” Natalia whispered back, now attempting to get her suit off.

“Nat, sweetheart, why is the door locked?”

“Uh, it’s not! It should be open!”

“I really don’t appreciate you locking the door with a boy in your room.”

“It’s not locked! I don’t know why you can’t open it!” Finally, Natalia managed to get her suit off, shove it in one of her drawers, fix her hair, then rip the web from the door and open it to find a mildly irritated Tony.

“See? Not locked.”

“Yeah, okay. Come on,” he motioned out of the room and turned to walk down the hallway. On the way out of her room, Natalia threw away the bundle of web that she still had in her hand. 

“Hey Nat, got you Hawaiian, your favorite,” Pepper smiled at the small girl and Natalia grinned and grabbed a plate.

“Thanks, Pep!”

“You like pineapple on pizza? God, who even are you?” Ned teased and Natalia stuck her tongue out at him.

“So, what’s the plan for tonight?” Tony asked, biting into a slice of pizza.

“Ned’s gonna help me practice some of my lines,” Natalia said as she sat at the table in between Pepper and Ned.

“Oh? I thought Peter was helping you out,” Pepper shared a glance with Tony and the man raised his eyebrows and shrugged.

“Yeah, he said he was busy with a school project.”

“What part are you practicing tonight?” Tony asked after a moment of silence.

Natalia hummed, finishing the bite in her mouth before speaking, “I was thinking “I can hear the bells.” I just can’t wrap my head around the lines leading up to the song and I feel like I’m not singing it with enough purpose.”

“Well you’ve had crushes before, don’t you have anything to go on?” Pepper asked and Natalia shook her head.

“Nothing as intense as what Tracy feels. I mean she’s talking about spending the rest of her life with someone, I’ve never felt that.”

“Really? Never?” Pepper started then looked at the girl. “Not even-”

“No, Pep, I  _ don’t  _ have a crush on Peter,” Natalia paused and wiped her mouth. “Or Ned.”

“Love you too,” Ned mumbled and, after seeing a tiny smirk on his face, pushed him.

“What about,” Tony drew out the last part of the word. “Your friend Michelle?”

At this, Natalia rolled her eyes and stood up, beginning to take her plate to the sink and Ned following her.

“We’re gonna go practice my lines since you’re being ridiculous,” Natalia took a moment to stare at the two before turning and walking towards her room. She heard Tony yell “love you” as she left the room and she replied with “yeah” before walking into her room and closing the door behind her and Ned. The two took a couple of minutes to laugh and joke around before Natalia turned her attention to her script and recited the lines leading up to the song four times before sighing and dropping onto her bed.

“Why can’t I do this  _ one  _ thing? It’s not even that hard! I lie all the time!”

“Well yeah but lying about stuff you don’t know is kinda difficult,” Ned reasoned and Natalia groaned and threw an arm over her eyes. A moment later, she got a text from Michelle that contained a picture of her posing in front of a mirror in an outfit that Natalia had complimented about a week ago. 

_ I can hear the bells. _

For some reason, Natalia found herself drawn to the picture and stared at it for a couple of minutes before texting back heart eye emojis and smiling to herself. As the girl again gazed at the picture her friend had sent, something seemed to click and-

_ Well, don’t you hear them chime? _

Oh.

Oh  _ no. _

Quickly, Natalia sat up and tossed her phone behind her, getting to her feet and beginning to read her lines again before getting to the song. This time, she sang the song almost perfectly and when she finished singing, she stood, staring at her phone for what seemed like forever before she completely understood what had just happened.

“Oh,  _ fuck _ .”


	13. Chapter 13

In the week that followed, Natalia spent most of her time practicing with the decathlon team since the nationals were that weekend. She particularly enjoyed answering questions so quickly and accurately to the point where Flash began to become irritated with her. 

“UGH! Let someone else answer, will you?” Flash complained and Natalia rolled her eyes.

“The problem isn’t that she’s too quick, it’s that you suck super hard,” Michelle smirked, loosely wrapping her arms around Natalia’s neck and leaning on her shoulders. Natalia froze for a moment before chuckling along with the other students and panicking internally.

“Wh- Mr. Harrington!”

“Alright, okay, settle down everyone, please,” the teacher rolled his eyes. “Michelle switch with Natalia so she can get to musical practice.”

“Yeah, come on babe, the world needs your beautiful voice,” Michelle said and Natalia gave a breathy giggle and stood up, letting her friend take her place. She walked off the stage, grabbed her backpack from one of the seats in the auditorium, and waved to Ned and Michelle before beginning to walk out of the auditorium.

As she grabbed the handle of the door, Mr. Harrington called her name. “The bus leaves at nine on Friday.”

Natalia nodded and smiled before leaving the auditorium and heading down the hall to the classroom that musical club was meeting in that day. She then spent the next hour and a half singing, dancing, and practicing lines with her co-stars and her, fairly cute, love interest for the play. At the end of the rehearsal, Natalia and the other actors left the school, joking around and singing as they did so. As they walked down the front stairs of the school, Natalia noticed Michelle leaning against one of the fences and her heart sped up when she noticed her and waved. Natalia then said goodbye to the other students and headed towards Michelle who stood from where she was leaning and began to walk away, walking slower than normal so Natalia could catch up.

“You were waiting for me?” 

“Yeah. Thought you’d like to try macarons for the first time.”

Natalia hummed but said nothing and instead took to glancing at Michelle out of the corner of her eye every couple of minutes, silently admiring how pretty the other girl was. The two reached a small France themed pastry shop, colored with various shades of pink and gold lining the walls and the tables sitting outside. Michelle entered first and decided to order two hot chocolates and a dozen different flavored macarons that she picked randomly. Natalia paid when Michelle wasn’t paying attention, knowing that Michelle would protest and attempt to pay for everything herself. After obtaining their treats, the girls took a seat outside of the restaurant and Michelle had fun with snapchatting Natalia eating her first macaron, laughing as the shorter girl realized exactly how delicious macarons were. 

“Peter and Ned think you’re adorable,” Michelle chuckled, watching as Natalia ate her fourth macaron. 

Natalia hummed before swallowing her bite, “They always think I’m cute when I try new things.”

“That’s because you are, you get this adorable look when you’re excited,” Michelle chuckled and Natalia gave a slight giggle and looked down at the table. When she glanced back up, Michelle was aiming her phone camera at her again and Natalia playfully shouted in protest. The two sat talking and laughing for the next couple of hours, and before they left each other’s company, they took a selfie together in front of the sunset.

* * *

Later that evening as Natalia was walking home, despite Tony telling her to not walk alone, she found herself listening to music with one headphone in and walking home alone. She nodded her head along to the beat of “No Tears Left to Cry” by Ariana Grande, a singer that Peter was obsessed with, and not really paying attention to what was going on. She was enjoying herself and singing along quietly when her spider sense spiked and she whipped around, ready to take on whoever was behind her.

“Woah, hey! It’s just me! Uh, your friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man,” Peter stammered, jumping down from the web he’d lowered himself down with.

“Oh. Hello,” Natalia spoke, pausing her music and taking her headphone out of her ear. “Haven’t seen you since you rescued me all that time ago. Thank you, by the way, my life is definitely better now.”

“Oh so being taken in by a billionaire is better than fending for yourself and living in an abandoned apartment building? Who would’ve thought,” Peter teased and Natalia tsked but smiled anyways. “Why don’t you tell me while I escort you home?”

“Don’t think I can handle myself, Spidey?” Natalia teased as she began to continue walking to her apartment.

“Just figured, y’know, safety in numbers and superpowers,” Peter shrugged and Natalia laughed. “So, your better life.”

“Yep! I’ve got a bunch of new friends and I joined the debate club and musical club, at the request of my friends Ned and Peter. I think Peter said something about knowing you,” Natalia played dumb and Peter nodded.

“Yeah, we’re, uh, pretty close.”

“Not closer than him and, I’d bet. I really enjoy his company, kinda feel like he avoids me though.”

“I’m sure that’s not the case.”

“He  _ is  _ a bit obsessed with this girl he has a crush on. But to be fair, so am I.”

“You have a crush on the same girl?”

Natalia laughed, “No, no, but Liz is pretty cute. I have a crush on my friend Michelle. She’s really cute and super enthusiastic about her interests and she’s really just a cool person.”

“Well you make her sound adorable,” Peter paused as the two stopped at a crosswalk for a moment before beginning to cross the street. “So… Are you gay?” At that Natalia made a face and looked at Peter and he winced. “Got it, wrong way to ask, my bad.”

Natalia chose not to speak and the two continued in silence for a couple of minutes. “I’m not gay. I think I’m bisexual.”

“That makes two of us,” Peter mumbled.

“What was that?”

“Nothing. So you’re bisexual.”

“I mean, probably. I think guys are cute sometimes.”

“Oh, really? Any guy in particular?” Peter asked, and was that a hopeful tone in his voice?

Natalia shrugged and didn’t speak, opting to not tell him directly that she thinks he’s cute, simply for fear of it going to his head, or so she told herself. After a couple of minutes, the two arrived at Natalia’s apartment building and before Natalia went inside, she turned to Peter and smiled.

“I’ll see you again, won’t I?”

“As long as there’s crime in New York, and as long as  _ you  _ keep walking home alone.”

The shorter kid chuckled and waved to her friend as she walked into the building, texting Tony that she’d be up in a minute. When she got up to the apartment, she said hello to Pepper and Tony who were watching TV in the living room and headed for her room, telling them that she wasn’t really hungry. She dropped her bag by her desk and sat in her desk chair, about to do some of her homework when Michelle texted her.

_ Michelle: You make it home okay? _

_ Lia: Yep! Spider-Man walked me home, lol _

_ Michelle: Lol, Parker’s old friend _

_ Lia: That’s the one lol _

_ Michelle: Well goodnight, don’t study too hard _

_ Lia: You know I will anyways _

_ Michelle: <3 _

 


End file.
